


D.Struction

by Elvana



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Emotions, Gen, not really angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 10:36:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14767985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elvana/pseuds/Elvana
Summary: Before Busan was known as the birthplace of Hana Song, it was known as a warzone.





	D.Struction

Hana Song was conceived in a time of peace.

Almost ten years of conflict had left the world crumbled and exhausted. But then Overwatch had arrived, swooping in to deliver the world from conflict. They defeated the God Programs and their armies of enslaved Omnics. They negotiated peace treaties between the Human governments and the newly free Omnic populations. They helped the planet begin to recognise that Omnics were alive, that they were sapient beings deserving of equality. Hana Song was conceived into a world full of hope, of promise.

Hana Song was born in a time of war.

She doesn’t remember the first time it happened. Busan was rebuilding, slowly clearing the rubble and erecting new structures in place of those that had been destroyed. Koreans, both Human and Omnic, were slowly, so slowly, being rehoused and integrated into one desegregated community. Tensions hadn’t gone away overnight, probably wouldn’t go away for years, decades even, to come. But people were willing to try. They saw each other and were filled with a determination to be better. Overwatch had filled the world and its peoples with a dream to strive for, a kinder, quieter future.

Hana’s mother was still pregnant the first time it happened. She had married a year earlier, in the back of a blue tent somewhere in a sprawling refugee camp in the Gyeongsang countryside. Dried mud marked her hands, no water to spare for washing them, and she used them to hold her groom, to look into his eyes and say a tearful “I do”. She was only a few weeks pregnant, not quite enough to show. But she knew her child was in there and she smiled to herself that day. Her hands, clean now, rested onto her stomach as she imagined the bright future they would have.

She was young still when it happened, not even 30 yet. Hana was to be her first child, and when the Omnic attacked, she was terrified. Hana may not remember that first attack, but her mother does. The giant monster rising out of the ocean, water dripping off of its shining red metal, its red eyes cast over the city. As it began to move Hana’s mum ran through the streets, destruction raging around her. Explosions toppled buildings, old ones that had withstood the Crisis, new ones recently built now that the war was over. The war was meant to be over. Tears streamed down her face as she ran to her new flat, to find her husband, to save their new family.

It took the military weeks to drive it back into the ocean. But it wasn't destroyed, it retreated back into the East China Sea, into the Omnium on the seabed. The last free God Programme had declared war against Korea. As the politicians scrambled to assemble an armed defense, Hana Song’s parents scrambled to rebuild their life. Again. Hana Song was born into a tense country, the already fragile peace between the Omnic and Human communities threatening to once again break.

Hana remembers the second attack, though not much of it. She was only 4 at the time, and so what she remembers are more scattered moments, feelings rather than any coherent memories. She remembers a flash of orange on the home screen, she remembers the gigantic monster rising out of the sea for a moment, she remembers her mother’s face. Her mother had gone pale, had stopped moving as she stared at the screen, watching the carnage unfold. She remembers the tears that began silently rolling down her mum’s cheeks, the slight tremor of her hand gripping the remote. 

She remembers the silence. It felt wrong, how quiet her mum was. She doesn’t remember moving, but her next memory is of grabbing her mum round the waist. The feeling of her mother holding her so close, holding her as if she would lose her forever is she let go. That stayed with Hana.

That time, the Omnic had attacked Ulsan, Hana and her parents hadn’t needed to flee again. But it was still terrifying, watching as the gigantic Omnic tore through the Korean defences yet again. In between the attacks the MEKA programme had been born, and these unmanned mechs assisted the army in defeating the Omnic. It was not destroyed though, but had retreated below the waves once again for repairs.

Hana was 10 when the third attack came. She was on her way home from school, having recently been given permission to do so on her own. She was playing a game on her phone. The small, transparent device was lit up in bright colours and flashing lights, engrossing enough that Hana didn’t see it at first. Then it let out a sound. It wasn’t quite a roar, but more of a deep tone that shook the windows and gave a rumbling feeling in her gut. Hana looked up.

It had come back to Busan. And this time it wasn’t alone. The God Programme had been busy, creating an army of smaller Omnics to assist its city destroying behemoth. Some ran through the streets, tearing apart humans and omnics with gunfire. Some flew through the air, picking off the MEKA defences as they tried to disable the giant.

Hana ran home through the streets, shells exploding around her, until she got to her flat. Her mother was already on the street with a light backpack on, and she ran towards Hana, picking her up and embracing her. It lasted for a moment, maybe less than a second, before Hana’s mum started running. Hana dropped down and kept pace, her mother’s hand tightly squeezed between her smaller one.

“Where’s Dad?” Hana asked, worry engulfing her face. Her mother looked down at her.

“Tokki, don’t worry. He’s fine, he knows where to meet us. When we’re out of the city, then we’ll see him.”

Even so, Hana felt anxious until the moment she saw him. He gave her a big hug, and swung her around like he used to when she was young. Normally she would have been embarrassed by the display, but at this moment she was just relieved.

They went to stay with family, her aunt in Gwangju. She had a house, much bigger than their flat. She also had five children. Hana, who didn’t have any siblings, spent the next few weeks running, jumping, climbing and hiding with her cousins. She was secretly disappointed when she found out they could go home. The relief on her dad’s face when he found out their flat was still standing was much better than the constant worry that had been there until today. She remembered her mother's arms clasping her at age 4. She didn't complain.

When they returned Busan had changed. Hana’s parents didn't seem to notice, they'd known the destruction that war could bring. But Hana had never seen anything like it. Despite the war Hana had never seen that sort of devastation first hand. Reading about war in school was so far from seeing it. Her parents had lived with this for 10 years. Her eyes began to water. She screwed them tight, rubbing them with her left arm. It wasn't fair. Her dad placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

That night her mum made Gimbap for tea, to celebrate. Hana’s favourite. She grinned, wolfing it down, too hungry to notice the looks of love her parents were giving her. They revelled in the feeling of victory, their family was alive and intact. For now they were safe. As she was going to bed, her parents followed her, to tuck her in, something which they hadn't done for some years now. But still Hana let them do it, her mother's embrace still burned into her mind. She thanked them as they did it.

“What was that for Tokki?” Her mother asked, a curious smile on her face.

“Well…” Hana said nervously. She didn't really know how to phrase it.

“I just...I love you both so much. Thank you.”

Her parents visibly softened. Her father reached out to stroke her face. Her mother opened her mouth to speak but found she couldn't, tears in her eyes and a lump in her throat. Her husband covered for her.

“Oh Tokki. We love you too. So much more than you’ll ever know. Our little miracle.”

A warm feeling came over her, her stomach dancing for the rest of the night as she lay there, drifting off to sleep.

As Hana grew she became competitive. She’d always loved games, but as she grew taller she started taking them seriously. Very seriously. At 13 she competed in her first tournament, not winning anything of course, but her parents had taken her out to celebrate nonetheless. A picture of her grinning face sat permanently on the wall on one of the digital displays in the hall. Snapped by her mum in the moment after a victory.

As Hana grew she began to specialise. StarCraft was the weapon of choice for many Korean gamers, but Hana settled on it as her favourite. She hunkered down with the newest iteration and just played. She climbed the ranks, rushing home from school to get more hours in. Soon enough she was getting offers to go pro. She joined her first junior team at 14 and soon migrated to a main team only a year later. As her skill grew she climbed the national and international rankings. 

At 16 she was the best. There was no dispute, the tables were clear.

“1. - D.Va”

During the summer holidays Hana was invited up to Seoul, where she accepted a place on the Korean national team. She was earning more than either of her parents now. Her sponsorships alone gave her more money than she knew what to do with. Well actually, she did know what to do, she gave a large amount to her parents.

“Hana, no. You've got to think of your future, save the money for you, you don't have to give anything to us. We're fine” they protested. But Hana knew. She knew the way that money stressed both of her parents, recognised their grim expressions whenever a bill appeared in the flat’s email box. So she insisted. She shoved money their way until they accepted, just a little. The anxious furrows on her mother's face soon became a lot less frequent.

Whilst she was in Seoul, she competed in the StarCraft World Cup. It was the first time since the 2040s, before the Omnic Crisis, that Korea had been deemed safe enough to hold the tournament. So of course it was this year that the God Programme chose to strike again.

When she first heard the news that an attack was in progress she was mid-game. The crowd had started to shift awkwardly, the screams and cheers died down into muted conversation. Phones were pulled out to look at news streams, and suddenly it was announced on the PA that the match was suspended.

Hana felt sick when she realised what was going on. She tore out of the arena to go and find an open space, somewhere to breathe. She wasn't the only one. Her hand shook as she tried to unlock her phone. She had to grasp her own wrist and take deep breaths, in and out, before she was calm enough to look. The Omnic had risen over Ulsan once again, as if repeating a pattern, and Hana felt relief. It soon turned to guilt as she thought of the poor people in that other city but at least her parents were safe.

Tempting fate like that isn't wise in the best of circumstances, but doing it with her mum and dad’s lives? That was stupid, she thought to herself. Only a hour after the first Omnic and it's replenished horde appeared, a second giant, with its own army of Omnic slaves in tow, rose out of the water to assault Busan.

Hana’s brain compared it to video game levels, a crude but accurate assessment. The God Programme was adapting every time to MEKA and the Korean Army’s tactics, and they too had to invent new strategies to deal with the attacks. This year they were using pilots in their mechs to counteract the Omnics, to hold them off as the civilians evacuated, and try to find some weak spot on the Kaiju-like creatures. 

If Hana hadn't been worrying about the safety of her home, of her family, she would have been gazing in wonder at the new MEKA mechs. She knew of the division, everyone did. Korea’s first line of defence in the East China Sea Conflict. But to actually pilot one of the mechs? It looked incredible, the way they zipped through the air, looping and turning, as agile as birds.

Hana returned home when the battles were over, arriving to the devastated streets of her hometown, debris strewn everywhere. The city had barely recovered from the last attack, but even its best was hardly anything worth talking about. Not anymore. Nationalists in the legislature who preyed upon people’s fears to get elected pushed their agendas through, limiting Omnic rights, diverting funds from infrastructure and rebuilding towards the military. Outside of Seoul every city had slums, children living in rickety shelters designed to be temporary, families living as if it were the 20th century and not the 21st. It made Hana mad, but then so did a lot of things.

Her emotions boiled to the surface easier these days, she had grown from a restrained child into an expressive teen. She spoke out more, she learned to speak louder, to shout to get what she wanted. She discovered that being noticed felt better than being ignored. She’d rather be the centre of attention, and so that’s what she became. But when she saw her home, the tall building which housed her parents’ flat, all she could do was gasp. It was a wreck. It was still standing, barely, but the top had been blown completely off and large chunks were missing all down the sides. A childhood home almost completely destroyed.

An itching feeling appeared suddenly in her arms. Hana needed to do something, she couldn’t just keep going. She needed to stop the war, it was too much. She tried to stealthily apply for the military but was rejected on account of her age, lying about that doesn’t work when you’re a minor celebrity. Even with her attempts to be sneaky, her parents still found out. They didn’t shout or even punish her, but the looks and the whispered chastisements made her feel awful. Under her mother’s gaze she felt 4 years old again, a child tightly gripped in fear by her parent. She regretted trying to enlist.

Instead of fighting she began to widen the scope of her livestreams, though still kept the focus mostly on gaming. She would take special tours around Busan to try and show everyone what it was like, what this once beautiful city had become. As she did she improved her acting skills, and soon enough she had an international audience who tuned in to watch her play, and to watch her vent about the injustices of modern Korean society. She had learned a small amount of English in school, but now she started picking it up, streaming in it to get the widest possible audience. Her fan base grew as she continued her professional career, bringing victory to Korea more than once (with the help of her teammates of course).

By the time she was 18 there hadn’t yet been another major attack, but some members of the small Omnic army came out of the sea to terrorise the locals on a regular basis. MEKA could handle them, but people had started to live in fear, even more than previously. Now there was a constant danger to living on the south coast. Even so people carried on but they were slower, more cautious these days. The fatigue of death was always there, an atmosphere of tension hanging over the streets. Over the houses that had been rebuilt one too many times, that were falling apart even if they had never fallen.

The government’s response was to increase the draft, to send more young people off to die in this never ending war. Hana was ready for the day they called her up. Not up to Seoul to compete, but to a base to train in the best ways to kill. She hoped that it would come and it did, the day before her 19th birthday, she received an official email. Her parents didn’t argue with her, didn’t try and convince her to dodge the draft. But she knew they hoped she would, from the looks they gave her. Hana remembered being 4.

But this time she pulled away from the feeling, her eyes beginning to water. But she smiled and turned towards to her parents.

“Don’t worry.” She said, a tear rolling down her cheek, as she embraced them both in turn. “Everything’s going to be fine!”

And somehow she knew it would be.

**Author's Note:**

> Just wanted to write a small backstory for D.Va, hopefully you liked it!
> 
> Tokki means Rabbit or Bunny in Korean.


End file.
